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You'll feel naughty eating these decadent brownies. A plain brownie is pretty scrumptious but I prefer dressing them up with toppings. I've done a coconut frosting, raspberry jam swirled with white chocolate chips and a turtle variation. For the past year I have made a lot of the rocky road brownies from a recipe I got from a former co-worker. This spring I started thinking about recreating a Hershey's Take 5 candy bar by topping the chocolate brownie base with pretzels, caramel and peanut butter. I didn't add Hershey's fifth ingredient, chopped peanuts, so my creation is more of a "Take 4." Good -- they won't get me for trademark infringement. I also had the urge to make a Fluffernutter topping for a brownie, but instead of pairing peanut butter with marshmallow fluff, I used marshmallow ice cream sundae topping. The result was yummy. Brownies are the perfect portable thing to tote to a potluck, picnic or reunion. They hold up well for transport, they...

I was in a better humor on the first snow day of the school year, Oct. 28, when I started this post. I had nothing planned that day, unlike today when I am supposed to be working like a regular person in a city with adults and lunching with a dear friend. But enough about my troubles. The day I was in a good mood I made my daughter and her cousin waffles from-scratch because I had the time and inclination and patience... with the children and circumstances ... not the waffle-making process. Actually homemade waffles are not all that hard to make. Consider treating your family or just yourself this cold, snowy weekend. And if there is just one of you, freeze the extras and pop them in the toaster on the "defrost" setting on weekday mornings. This is where a vacuum sealer comes in handy. I own a Reynolds Handi-Vac and I will review it at the end of this blog and give you the recipe I use for "regular" waffles that you can add blueberries or other mix-ins to or just se...

I used to be a diehard recipe follower. Now I'm less afraid of messing up something. I'm not completely at ease just mixing random things without measuring. Ingredients are too expensive to throw away and I am too picky to eat my mistakes. But I have come to trust my palate more and will occasionally wing it. I must really be taking risks in my sleep-deprived state of late because I mixed up some chicken salad for sandwich filling to serve at a church luncheon reception with only a vague notion of what I was going for and a quick glance at a couple of recipes. Tyler Florence helped only marginally. I didn't boil my chicken with onion, carrots and celery and save the stock but someday I will. A review of Baltimore's Atwater's restaurant sparked the notion of adding dried cherries as well as the golden raisins I planned. The resulting sandwich wasn't bad -- no complaints but no requests for the recipe (unlike my Rocky Road Brownies, which drew raves.) Here...

My husband rolled his eyes at the name of this recipe. Hey! I didn't make it up! But he changed his tune once he bit into a warm, chewy cookie. "These cookies rock!" is his totally subjective and not all that descriptive opinion. CHOC-OAT-CHIP CHERRY COOKIES (All props to the recipe writers at Quaker Oats) 2 sticks margarine or butter, softened 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar 1/2 cup granulated sugar 2 eggs 2 tablespoons milk 2 teaspoons vanilla 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 1/2 cups Quaker Oats (quick or old-fashioned, uncooked) 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips 1 cup dried tart cherries Heat oven to 375 degrees. In large bowl, beat butter and sugars with electric mixer until creamed. Add eggs, milk and vanilla; beat well. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; add to the butter-sugar mixture and mix well. Stir in oats, chocolate chips and cherries; mix well. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 9 ...